TAT: No. 3 Arkansas Set to Battle for SEC Championship

This article originally appeared online on February 20, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website (uatrav.com).

The Southeastern Conference Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championship will likely come down between three teams, head coach Lance Harter said.

LSU, Arkansas and Florida are all “balanced” teams, Harter said, and should finish near the top of the meet. At No. 1, No. 3 and No. 6, respectively, they are three of the five SEC teams ranked in the top ten in the country. No. 7 Georgia and No. 9 Texas A&M are the other two.

“(The SEC) is loaded as usual,” Harter said. “It shows that the SEC is the superpower in indoor track.”

The Razorbacks lead the conference in four different events, including the pentathlon, with a 4,464-point performance by senior Makeba Alcide. The pentathlon is the first women’s event of the meet, taking place tomorrow.

“We’d love for (Alcide) to get the momentum going,” Harter said. “She’s no secret now, so she has to go in and win it.”

Arkansas also has the best times in the conference in the 400-meter, 5,000 and distance medley.

Senior Regina George’s 51.67 second time in the 400 is the best in the NCAA this season and she is the favorite in that event this weekend.

However, Harter said he thinks it will be a battle between George, Georgia freshman Shaunae Miller and Florida juniors Ebony Eutsey and Lanie Whittaker, who have times of 52.96 seconds, 52.89 seconds and 53.26 seconds, respectively.

LSU senior sprinter Kim Duncan will be favored in the 60 and 200, in which she has the best times in the conference this season.

In the distance races, Arkansas will run sophomores Diane Robinson and Dominique Scott in both the 3,000 and 5,000 races. Robinson has the best 5,000 time in the SEC this season and will be favored this weekend.

“The SEC has always been labeled a sprint and jump conference, but now the distances have filled out,” Harter said. “They all have national implications.”

Texas A&M and Missouri will be making their SEC Indoor

Championship debuts, after joining the SEC last summer. Harter said he thinks these additions could help the Razorbacks in winning the conference title.

“I think (Texas A&M) will help us a little bit,” Harter said. “They’re a sprint power and they could come in and dilute some of LSU and Florida’s sprint points.”

Their presence will also lower the winning point total, as there are more teams competing for the same number of points. Instead of the traditional “140 or 150 points” needed to win, the “magic number” is 110 points this year, Harter said.

While Harter said he thinks Arkansas, LSU and Florida will be “very tough to handle,” he also said the championship is a possibility for several of the teams.

“The conference is becoming more and more polarizing,” Harter said. “There’s going to be teams in the top half vying for a title, and then there’s the teams trying to figure out how to get there.”